Artist Spotlight: Dream Theater

It looks like the line for the mens room at a football game, but it's really Dream Theater!

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It's been a mellow week which has been wonderfully relaxing but now it's time to get back to rockin'. So I thought I would highlight one of my favorite bands - Dream Theater. Now, out of laziness I will probably just call them DT for a lot of the post. DT was formed in New York at the Berklee School of Music in 1986. Originally named Majesty, the band was filled with technical proficiency and came up with a sound along the lines of Rush, Queensryche and Queen with some Metallica thrown in. After some line up fiddling, the first version of the band to record was the amazing John Petrucci (guitar), fleet fingered bassist John Myung, the awesome Mike Portnoy (drums), the tasteful Kevin Moore (keyboards) and a singer I haven't heard yet, Charlie Dominici. They released their debut album in 1989 to launch their career as one of the longest running Prog Metal bands around.

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When Day and Dream Unite (1989)

...isn't that called a daydream? It just wouldn't be Prog if there wasn't an extended and elaborate way to say something. I've never heard this album or anything off it except the YTSE Jam which is an instrumental cut that shows off these guys chops. Other than that, all I can say is that the album cover was ahead of its time. That's me in the corner, that's me in the spot. light...

Images and Words (1991)

For the next album, the band switched labels and singers. Lead singer James LaBrie was brought in and I assume was a better fit than the other guy. LaBrie had a sort of Operatic hair band singer style that gave drama and oomph to their sound. At any rate, DT laid out my favorite disc of theirs, Images and Words. The perfect blend of late 80's hair metal anthems and proggy musical wankerism coalesce into a killer piece of work. Their lone hit, Pull Me Under was the perfect representation of the band. The shifts from chugging verses to thrashed out sections, dazzling solos and a hook based on Shakesphere. A ten minute Metropolis pt.1 again reflected the knotty arrangements and crafty musicality of the group. I think of the song as the equivalent to Yes' "Heart of the Sunrise" for DT. It was a prerequisite of any Metal band at this time to have a power ballad and the band delivered the life affirming Another Day , a song I think was inspired by a bandmember's dying father. One of my all time favorite power ballads, Petrucci delivers my favorite power ballad guitar solo of all time. And if that's not enough, Petrucci made Guitar magazine's top 500 guitar solos on Under a Glass Moon . Pretty soon I might have the whole album covered which just goes to show how much I like this one. One last song. Surrounded!

Awake (1994)

Dream Theater followed up their commercial break thru with a darker album, the band would alternate between light and dark sounds for the rest of their career. I'm not as much of a fan of their edgier, less melodic creations even though it lets the band cut loose harder. But there's still gold here with the bone crunching Lie , the folky The Silent Man and the pure Yes 90125 era Arena rock of Innocence Faded . The playing and arrangements are denser and trickier than anything they attempted before, leaving an impressive array of instrumental breaks and rapid fire riffing in their wake. Drummer Mike Portnoy really dominates on this disc, giving a clinic in Neal Peart inspired beats. Even though I've played this disc a few times, it just doesn't stick with me as a whole piece but as a bunch of little parts. Awake would represent an ongoing theme in the groups career, never settling down and pushing forward to create invigorating music.

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A Change of Seasons (1995)

One of the things I like about DT is that they are more than willing to let their prog freak flag fly. Releasing a CD where the main track is a 23 minute epic of Yessian proportions does just that. A masterwork of instrumental excess and proggy goodness that easily ranks with anything ELP or early Genesis cranked out. Keyboardist Derek Sherinian replaced the departing Kevin Moore and immediately adds his own splashy flavor. And in case there's any doubt about who influences these guys, there's The Big Medley that slavishly references Pink Floyd, Journey, Kansas, Queen and Genesis. Dream Theater get Close to the Edge on this disc.

Falling into Infinity (1997)

I don't have this album but have heard some songs from it. The songs I've heard were OK but didn't quite blow me away. Hollow Years has a Sting quality to it and Burning My Soul thunders along with a strong Deep Purple style organ riff. But there seems to be a slight loss of character here, enjoyable but the songs I know from this album tend to be the ones I play the least. Too bad, I normally like albums produced by Kevin Shirley.

Metropolis pt 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)

After a decade plus in the music biz, Dream Theater realized they hadn't made a concept album yet. So they went out to correct that by expanding on "Metropolis" from the Images and Words album. The album's concept is about a young woman who is murdered because I think she was dating two brothers and one of them kills her. Then a man in the present goes to see a psychiatrist about past lives and is hypnotized and relives the past. Or something like that. I used to love to listen to this disc during insomniac nights at 2 in the morning so my memory of the story is fuzzy. Yet that was probably the best time to hear it, the music just seemed to fit the mood of a late night dream. Jordan Rudess is brought in on keyboards in place of Sherinian and immediately displays his confident prowess with Rick Wakeman rivaling runs. My second favorite DT disc, when I'm paying attention I can follow the story and the music combined with sound effects and acting creates a mood of mystery and intrigue. My favorite song on the album was the longish Home with its mystic flavor and critical story point (this is the point where the girl cheats on one brother with the other) is a dizzying array of musical virtuosity. After seeing the live performance on tv, The Spirit Carries On has become a fave as well. But this album is really meant to be heard as a whole, it was DT's most ambitious effort and in reaching high they've created a minor classic.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

In 2001 the band released a live album that stirred some controversy because the cover art depicted their trademark flaming heart in barbed wire over the city of New York (where the concert was held) that happened to be released around 9/11. The most press the band ever received in their career was mostly negative and entirely unitentional. Still, at this phase in the band's career ambition was riding high and so they followed up their concept album with a two disc set. Not just any two disc set, one of the discs featured an eight movement 45 minute mini concept about the inner struggle of madness. Great tracks like The Test That Stumped The All and the Peter Gabrielish Solitary Shell combine to form one of the longest Prog pieces I've ever heard. Elsewhere, the band begins to infuse modern influences into harder edged pummeling rockers like The Glass Prison and the surprisingly political and catchy anti stem cell research anthem "The Great Debate". I've played these discs several times and still don't know all of it because there's so much to it. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Train of Thought (2003)

The harder modern edge developed on Six Degrees is brought to fore on Train of Thought. So much so that I have a hard time remembering much about any keyboards to this album. What I got out of it was Petrucci, Petrucci, Petrucci. Not necessarily a bad thing since he's a blazin' guitar player but I can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting. It just has a dry crunchy vibe like eating cerial without milk. Anywho, taken as individual tracks its another great one in the DT library. The song I liked the most here was "Endless Sacrifice" which borrowed a bit from Evanescence's "Bring Me Back To Life" showing the increasing development of modern sounds in their songwriting. One of the cool things about You Tube is that you can find people singing along to their favorite songs, so here's a guy named Unflexible Grace singing along to Endless Sacrifice . Pretty cool! DT also makes their anti-war stance known on In the Name of God with it's very windy groove and impressive noodling. A great album that I listen to in halves to get through but is well worth the effort. I almost got to see them live on a double bill with Yes but couldn't get off work early enough to see them. Bummer.

Octavarium (2005)

In their back and forth approach, Dream Theater lightens the sound and brings back more melody while reining in some of their heavier instincts on Octavarium. Proggy as ever, I read that the album was set up where each song was a different octive or something like that. I don't have the musical ear to decypher that but can say I enjoyed this one a lot. Two of the songs seemed to have been set up for potential crossover marketing with the U2 styled I Walk Beside You and the somewhat dull ballad The Answer Lies Within . But if you think these guys went soft, you'd be wrong as Panic Attack thrashes through heavy riffs and intense singing. My all time favorite Dream Theater song, the 23 minute title track, sits at the end of this disc. Backed by an orchestra, the title song goes all over the map from Floydian grace to Kansas groovin to Metallica S&M grandeur. Here it is in parts One ,Two, and Three . The guitar solo with orchestra backing at the close of the song is a thing of beauty. DT had built up enough of a fan base to play at Radio City Music Hall with an orchestra in 2006.

Systematic Chaos (2007)

Apparently Octavarium was too soft for the band to handle because not only did they dive back to the darkness but they jumped back into it with both feet. Drummer Portnoy announced his intention was for the band to release an album with balls, extremely hard edged. Unique in its dogged commitment to the tough guy approach, Chaos overplays its hand a bit to the point of comedy and would be challenging to take seriously if it wasn't for the impressive talent they possess. Monster man vocals, lyrics about ministries of lost souls and an unrelenting mood of hard bitten intensity characterize the album. I would literally get a headache listening to it when I first bought it because it was so dang heavy! Or it just means I'm getting old. The urgent single Constant Motion points to the band's direction as does the awesome ballad Forsaken . After years of listening to DT it's easy to take their talent for granted, which is why I'm glad there's an in studio video for The Dark Eternal Night . Another fine effort from the 80's prog metal band that isn't Queensryche (who is also great).

Dream Theater continues to this day and I hope will continue for years to come. The rare band that wears its heart on its sleeve so to speak, their influences now span from the classic rock era to the present and mix together to create a sound that is both unique and relatable to anyone familiar with rock music from the past 40 years. Or to put it bluntly, they kick ass!